Challenge to be King of TUT

A DEMOLITION yard in Melbourne was to be the final resting place for the bust of an Eygptian king. Today it gleams with gold and is in the hands of Tidy Up Taree organiser, Graham Brown.

The bust has been delivered a remarkable afterlife, crafted from Graham's imagination, dry humour and desire to rally Taree business people to get involved in Tidy Up Taree Day. It was a remarkable eBay find by Graham's 15-year-old son, Mitchell, after he had a light-bulb moment that a King TUT Trophy could be comical and inspire competition - so the bust became 'King TUT' in the Brown household. Its journey to the afterlife was not without incident as every external decoration was snapped off in transit.

Graham quickly equipped himself with "very special glue" to begin King TUT's makeover and then enlisted the skill of Peter McDonald to craft a wooden pedestal. The King TUT Trophy is big, and comes with big boasting rights, according to Graham.

"Imagine this in the foyer of your business - now that's a talking point! It shows hands-on commitment to making our community a better place," Graham said.

This Sunday is when local business teams must rally to be in the running for The King TUT Trophy.

"Ausmulch, Greater Building Society, McGlashan and Crisp and Greater Taree City Council have signed-up and committed people to our day, but we want and need more," Graham said.

"I want our real estate agencies to sign up! I've got Shultz First National set to be the first agency to sponsor a roundabout, Mal's out wandering the streets now trying to decide which one will be his, but I'd also like to see them all in the running for The King TUT Trophy. Some of our sponsors could also get more value from their support of TUT by getting their people on the ground. MidCoast Water, Saxbys. Jack Rabbit and Bunnings are great supporters but we'd love to see their people, wearing their business shirts around the town.

"Ausmulch is amazing and council is great, but we want more to sign-up for the fight to get The King TUT Trophy!"

To win, Graham said businesses needed their people on the ground, for them to work hard, have fun, display brilliant comraderie and be involved in making the day a great community event.

"It's subjective, it's fun, and I want The King TUT Trophy to inspire friendly competition in our business community.

"At this stage it looks like a head-to-head contest between Ausmulch and Greater Taree City Council but a late surge of nominations could really make things interesting."

This Sunday TUT will focus on giving the business district a facelift in Victoria Street, between Manning and Macquarie Streets, and in Manning Street from Victoria Street to the Albert Street intersection.

Graham said the painting of garden borders and utility panels and poles would take place from 6am to around 9am, and that would mean partial closure of the affected streets. Impact would be kept to a minimum.

Another aspect of TUT is the Block Challenge and Graham says people can register their block for the challenge up until 9am on Sunday.

"We want residents to nominate their block in the challenge for a chance to win great prizes and improve the town's image along the way," he said.

"Ausmulch has come to the party with 20 $50 vouchers to be shared amongst particpants who take out the Most Rubbish Collected category."

Other block prizes on offer include:

o Best Block: $1000 worth of reduced water charges courtesy of Mid Coast Water to be shared between block participants.

TIDY Up Taree Day has harnessed the added community benefit of sharing Clean Up Australia Day.

This Sunday the two events will combine.

The Clean Up Australia Day website has 24 clean-up sites listed and organisers at each location want people to come to help clean-up. Groups are set to work in Taree, Crowdy Head, Wingham, Possum Brush, Mondrook, Oxley Island, Mitchells Island, Caparra, Glenthorne, Coopernook, Harrington and Marlee. To join a group at any of the sites visit the Clean Up Australia Day website www.cleanupaustraliaday.org.au